


the mirrored shield.

by Pitseleh



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:54:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28228716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pitseleh/pseuds/Pitseleh
Summary: "I have dreams," she says, "where I am Orpheus. My family, I thought them dead..."
Relationships: Deimos & Kassandra (Assassin's Creed)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. prologue.

**Author's Note:**

> It's just loosely connected shorts, dealing with the aftermath of the main family storyline, and trying to add more content to the game with the siblings.

She wonders if he is more comfortable in caves.

The world is darker, here, a gateway to darker places, and some part of her dislikes bringing him down here. But she knows, too, he must be kept feeling important, for he is important, perhaps the most of any of them. Not in the way he thinks, the way he was taught to think, but the fact remains. There were dangers, of course. Other cultists, bandits, any people who needed killing. Why bother mater and pater when the two of them were more than formidable opponents? And, she thinks, she loves fighting alongside him.

And, she thinks, maybe he likes fighting alongside her.

When the deed is done, and they are alone in the dark with dead bodies at their feet-- _familiar_ , he quips-- there is a silence. The rocky floor is slippery with blood. Their breaths echo. A single beam of sunlight illuminates the dark, a shaft of brightness to lead them back. It reminds her of something, and she tells Deimos because he should hear it, not because it is the truth-- though it is, of course, the truth.

"I have dreams," she says, "where I am Orpheus. My family, I thought them dead..."

She watches Deimos watching. Waiting for the understanding to light behind his eyes. At times, he is quiet, as though he is afraid the wrong answer will bring punishment.

She knows he does not like to be touched. Her hand lingers over his, letting him choose, and finally he takes it.

"We walk out of the cave together," she says. And they do.


	2. pallas athene.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Athenian sail crosses the horizon, owl eyes silver in the blistering sunlight.

Barnabas is somewhere obliquely in her periphery, so it's clear to Kassandra who Deimos means when he says, "that fool says you slew the Minotaur."

Kassandra looks out to the expanse of sea before them, and reflects on the length of this voyage. "I did," she says, mostly because the sun is in her eyes.

Deimos _tsk_ s. "Kassandra of Sparta, the Eagle Bearer, slew the-"

She gives a gentle _shush_. It stops Deimos; he never knows what to do with gentleness. They have been at sea a week, and she has learned that, and how difficult he finds sleep, and how little he likes ship rations, and how much he refuses to mention it. She is trying valiantly not to put all of these pieces together to form a picture of his childhood, because some priestesses can only be killed once.

"When you put it like that," she says, "it _does_ sound ridiculous."

Deimos grunts, triumphant, as though this is an argument he has won. If he notices the disk in her hand, with the sigil of a gorgon on it, he does not say. The ocean eats their words for what feels like hours, song rising with the tide, and occasionally Deimos shouts match the tune. 

"Athena, Athena! No more fucking Athena!"

"I remember," Barnabas begins, "how poorly such talk would have turned out, for a certain king of Ithaka..."

An Athenian sail crosses the horizon, owl eyes silver in the blistering sunlight. 

"I prefer other birds," Kassandra says as a kind of afterthought. "Change the song."

Deimos' grin is that triumphant, cocky thing, but it's worth it to see something like a smile on his face.


	3. there is a girl.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We are not the people who die. We are not bested by beasts and monsters. People. _Cults_."

She's going.

"You're going?" 

"I'm going," Kassandra says, voice tired, "I will be back."

"I'm going too," Deimos growls, and leaps from the ship to the docks with the catlike accuracy that speaks to the blood they share. Kassandra follows, up until-- out of the hearing range of the crew-- Deimos demands: "Where are we going?"

Kassandra sighs. "There is a girl," she says, deliberately slow, so she can watch Deimos roll his eyes, "and she says her lover was kidnapped by a hideous creature," and then she watches his interest drift back to the conversation.

"So you want to slay this creature also," Deimos grouses, "and have for yourself all the glory in Hellas?"

"I was hoping to save the girl's lover," Kassandra says, "that would also be nice."

"Your luck will run out, sooner or later," Deimos says, voice deep and dark, as they march through the marketplace. Something in his gait and bearing inspires the crowd to part before them like the waves part before the smiling sphynx at the Adrestia's bow.

"Deimos," Kassandra calls, a step behind him and far more cheerful, "little brother, are you worried?"

He turns, and it's like a door slamming. He glares with rage held back. She shouldn't have suggested that, but she doesn't know _why_ , not until he speaks: "Should I be worried?"

They are out of the worst of the crowd. Slowly, slowly, clearly in his vision, telegraphing every movement, her hand barely brushes his shoulder. He does not flinch as he did in those first days, when they brought him back from Taygetos. "Never worry," she says.

No one is near, but they are seemingly still too exposed; Deimos huffs and turns away, until they are out of the polis and walk between wild trees. "I do not worry," he lies. 

"Then you are very brave," Kassandra murmurs, cautious with her words. 

"Do not coddle me."

"I am not," she says, and then hisses. If they're going to have this conversation, she's not going to do it staring at his shoulder blades. She stops, and leans against a tree, and waits for him to figure it out. Deimos gets a significant distance out before he realizes he's no longer being followed, lets out a loud and frustrated cry, and circles back to her. 

"You!" He says, "you and I..."

The words seem difficult for him. He takes a moment to form them into a sentence.

"We are not the people who die. We are not bested by beasts and monsters. People. _Cults_."

Kassandra nods. This is clearly something he needs to say.

"You said I was not alone."

Kassandra frowns. "Did you think I was leaving you, on the Adrestia?"

The way Deimos' mouth curves into a frown, the way he looks away, says _yes_. She feels sympathy running deeply for him, until he jabs her violently in the shoulder. "If _I_ am not, then _you_ are not."

Of course he finds a way to make his loneliness a challenge.

"We kill the monster together," Kassandra agrees, and holds her hands up. When they frame his face, Deimos goes still, like a dog expecting to be kicked. Instead, she kisses his forehead. "My perfect brother," she says, "you will help me hold the mirrored shield."


End file.
